Big Sugar Buddha: A Homily - The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Sunday, January 19, 2025

A Homily - The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 ©

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and John 6:68

Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2 Thessalonians 2:14

The Gospel of The Day - John 2:1-11 ©

(NJB)

Listen!

In the reading from Isaiah we are given a profound expression of hope for the future of Israel and by extension the entire world. As Christians and theists we are called on to brandish that hope, carry it forward, not only for ourselves but for all people, in all places, at all times.

Following the teaching of Isaiah we come to understand that this hope is like the hope of a young couple entering into marriage. They do not know what the future will bring but they are determined to face it together, believing that together they can endure whatever comes their way, even those things that threaten to overwhelm them.

Together we are stronger, through our relationships we are wiser, in a bond of unity we are better, the love they share with one another, in the view of the prophet, is like a bright and beautiful gemstone adorning a crown upon our heads, it is like a beacon on a hill lighting up the night.

The prophet speaks from a position of wisdom and ignorance both, as do we all, knowing some things and not knowing others. Isaiah speaks well of faith and hope, but regarding the activity of the creator in the world, there is confusion. He speaks to his belief that God, the creator of the universe has played a role in shaping the destiny of Israel, and by extension the world…this is an error.

Know this:

God has made both us and the entire creation free. God does not coerce anything or anyone. God does not intervene in worldly affairs, either for our benefit, or to our detriment. We are free, as individuals and in the whole.

Our faith tells us to look to God for deliverance from this world to a place of safety and joy, of love and rest, to bring us to a place of wellbeing…not in this world, but the next.

Be mindful.

It is right to praise God; it is right and good. It is right to treat our discourse concerning God with respect and honor; God is holy and our discourse should reflect that, keeping in mind the sacred nature of God’s blessed work, but it is wrong to think of God as a Lord.

God, whom Jesus called abba (papa), God is not a royalist. Disregard the psalmist when he speaks this way.

Remember this:

God has already judged the world, God has judged the entirety of the created order, God Judged it at the beginning while seeing the end, God judged the world and proclaimed that it is good, and us in it…not good “on balance,” but good in its entirety, the whole of the created order, existing in and through the divine Logos, sustained by God’s word, the alpha and the omega saw that it is good.

This is what our faith instructs us to believe: God is not to be feared, but trusted.

Be mindful.

As a theist I will happily proclaim that there is only one God. As a philosopher I will tell you that the infinite can only be expressed by the numeral one; the infinite is one, undivided, indivisible being. There are no other God’s, but there are other cultures and traditions who approach the divine with different languages, and the reality of different felt-experiences.

We should respect, cultures different from our own and strive to understand all human language concerning the sacred and pertaining to the divine reality, from whatever culture or whatever nation it comes.

Know this:

There is only one God and none of us understand God perfectly…no one ever has.

Remember!

God’s salvation is close at hand; we are a single heart-beat away from it. Therefore, have no fear, God’s grace does not come and go according to our merits, it is always present.

God is present in all times and all places; God is with you now, believe it without fear.

Salvation reaches everyone, not because any of us deserve it, but simply because God loves us, every last one of us, God laid a plan for our salvation when we only existed in potential, as a mere possibility, we were touched by grace even then.

Be mindful.

God welcomes our participation in the work of the faithful, and there is much to do. There is a role for everyone to play, both inside and outside the church, but mostly outside of it. We are meant to go out among the people, to find those who feel most alienated from the divine and give them comfort.

Everyone of us comes to that work with different gifts, different abilities and talents, we are called on to use our gifts for the benefit of our brothers and sisters, for those who share the same tradition and for those who do not.

Understand this:

The reward for your faithful service is peace, it is peace in this life and the knowledge that you have lived well, acted justly and done good…seek no other reward.

Consider the teaching of the apostle, of Peter who denied Jesus three times on the night he was arrested. Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret message that leads to eternal life. His teaching here is like that of the Gnostics, which the Church in its wisdom rejected. Peter, or those writing in his name, suggests that there are passcodes and secret ways that lead a person upward on a journey through the heavens, until the come to the place of everlasting paradise.

Peter puts this forward as if this were the purpose of the Gospel, as if “believing” that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving those spiritual benefits.

This faith is born from fear, from a fear that God will not deliver on God’s promise to bring everyone to the feast at Isaiah’s table, at the foot of the mountain, at the end of time. This teaching is predicated on the notion that God will not save everyone, that God is not with us, and that our salvation is something God cannot manage without us.

Reject this fear.

The Gospel is this: it is simply this: God loves you, and you are saved.

You are not saved for anything that you have done, you did not earn it, you are saved because God loves you. There is nothing more to it, there is nothing that you have to do, and the same is true for everyone.

The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you.

The Gospel is this: God has already forgiven you. You are already saved, we were saved at the beginning, and the divine proclamation confirmed this when God looked on creation and called it good.

God has prepared you, and everyone for eternal life; believe it!

Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now, start living this life as if it were true.

We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the principles of his faith, to live lives of charity and service to one another other.

From the beginning, God chose all people to receive the sanctifying spirit, God created each person in the divine image, God placed within us a seed of the eternal Word. Through the Good News given to us by Jesus of Nazareth, we learn to trust (have faith) in the truth of that proclamation.

Know this:

As people of the faith we have a duty to adhere to the truth. The divine spirit is truth, as ministers of the faith we are meant to proclaim this truth and let it shine in the darkness like a beacon of hope for all to see.

Consider the Gospel reading for today, ask yourself this: Where is the truth in this myth?

Jesus was not a magic-maker.

God is not a miracle worker.

Read literally; this story is a lie.

Jesus never turned water into wine; it is likely that there was no wedding at Cana, that the entire event never happened…it is make believe.

Mary did not call on Jesus to work wonders and people did not follow Jesus because they saw him to wonderful tricks; they followed him because he spoke to them about justice, he looked to their wellbeing, he was a minister of mercy and he gave his life in service of the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized and the outcast.

So, what is happening here?

This it is not a story concerning who Jesus was or what Jesus did, we are not called on to believe anything about those things based on this narrative. It is a story that tells us something of what people came to believe about Jesus a hundred or so years after he was killed.

It may be a story about Jesus and John the Baptist, an apology of sorts; it may be a defense of Jesus given to the followers of John, insofar as John came first, but John was the lesser-prophet of that era.

The people might have expected the best to come first, like the wine at the wedding, but as in the stories of the patriarchs, the second son was favored more, and so Jesus came to surpass John.

The Wedding of Cana is not a miracle story, it is a parable intending to convey a simple set of beliefs; Jesus did not come to carry the mantle of John, his work is not an extension of the former. Jesus came carrying the promise of the covenant, his was the more inclusive revelation.

He came with a different teaching altogether, marking a radical departure from the prison of the law, he came to preach a message of love, of service and humility in the furtherance of the good.

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©

The Bridegroom Rejoices in His Bride

About Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch.

The nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer.

You are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land ‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’; for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding.

Like a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 ©